{"id":"01KFNR8B6E1FZV6WTF2D1AK9F4","cid":"bafkreicfqh6sj7bbkf72sqwjuollhnekj5q7cupeesx5m7gtqfajta2bue","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":21305,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.419Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 10","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":21251,"text":"phenomenon of breaching. Rising with his utmost velocity from the\r\nfurthest depths, the Sperm Whale thus booms his entire bulk into the\r\npure element of air, and piling up a mountain of dazzling foam, shows\r\nhis place to the distance of seven miles and more. In those moments,\r\nthe torn, enraged waves he shakes off, seem his mane; in some cases,\r\nthis breaching is his act of defiance.\r\n\r\n“There she breaches! there she breaches!” was the cry, as in his\r\nimmeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tossed himself salmon-like to\r\nHeaven. So suddenly seen in the blue plain of the sea, and relieved\r\nagainst the still bluer margin of the sky, the spray that he raised,\r\nfor the moment, intolerably glittered and glared like a glacier; and\r\nstood there gradually fading and fading away from its first sparkling\r\nintensity, to the dim mistiness of an advancing shower in a vale.\r\n\r\n“Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” cried Ahab, “thy hour\r\nand thy harpoon are at hand!—Down! down all of ye, but one man at the\r\nfore. The boats!—stand by!”\r\n\r\nUnmindful of the tedious rope-ladders of the shrouds, the men, like\r\nshooting stars, slid to the deck, by the isolated backstays and\r\nhalyards; while Ahab, less dartingly, but still rapidly was dropped\r\nfrom his perch.\r\n\r\n“Lower away,” he cried, so soon as he had reached his boat—a spare one,\r\nrigged the afternoon previous. “Mr. Starbuck, the ship is thine—keep\r\naway from the boats, but keep near them. Lower, all!”\r\n\r\nAs if to strike a quick terror into them, by this time being the first\r\nassailant himself, Moby Dick had turned, and was now coming for the\r\nthree crews. Ahab’s boat was central; and cheering his men, he told\r\nthem he would take the whale head-and-head,—that is, pull straight up\r\nto his forehead,—a not uncommon thing; for when within a certain limit,\r\nsuch a course excludes the coming onset from the whale’s sidelong\r\nvision. But ere that close limit was gained, and while yet all three\r\nboats were plain as the ship’s three masts to his eye; the White Whale\r\nchurning himself into furious speed, almost in an instant as it were,\r\nrushing among the boats with open jaws, and a lashing tail, offered\r\nappalling battle on every side; and heedless of the irons darted at him\r\nfrom every boat, seemed only intent on annihilating each separate plank\r\nof which those boats were made. But skilfully manœuvred, incessantly\r\nwheeling like trained chargers in the field; the boats for a while\r\neluded him; though, at times, but by a plank’s breadth; while all the\r\ntime, Ahab’s unearthly slogan tore every other cry but his to shreds.\r\n\r\nBut at last in his untraceable evolutions, the White Whale so crossed\r\nand recrossed, and in a thousand ways entangled the slack of the three\r\nlines now fast to him, that they foreshortened, and, of themselves,\r\nwarped the devoted boats towards the planted irons in him; though now\r\nfor a moment the whale drew aside a little, as if to rally for a more\r\ntremendous charge. Seizing that opportunity, Ahab first paid out more\r\nline: and then was rapidly hauling and jerking in upon it again—hoping\r\nthat way to disencumber it of some snarls—when lo!—a sight more savage\r\nthan the embattled teeth of sharks!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 10"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR85HWN9BZZ5RJPNHTDQTZ","peer_label":"133","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR85HWN9BZZ5RJPNHTDQTZ","peer_label":"133","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR8B9DCH96PHVPBHAVYWDQ","peer_label":"Chunk 11","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8BA7RAGW5EWXQSF6AT5R","peer_label":"Chunk 9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.839Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:18.881Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}